Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
As the nation continues to face budgetary constraints in service delivery to citizens, the Federal and states governments on Thursday met to brainstorm on ways to make them more responsive to demands of governance.
The brainstorming session took place at the maiden meeting of heads/permanent secretaries of cabinet affairs offices at the federal and states level, at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, in his opening address, said the theme of the meeting, “Repositioning the Cabinet Affairs Offices for Effective Service Delivery” was apt and timely, as it was in line with global approach to the ensuring effective coordination of policies, programmes and projects at the national and sub-national levels.
He said the meeting was an opportunity to move the nation to the next level through positive collaboration in performing shared roles and robust interface amongst the heads/permanent secretaries of cabinet affairs offices of the federation, on how to reposition the Cabinet Affairs Offices (CAOs) for effective policy coordination and how to develop systems to measure performance.
The SGF charged Cabinet Affairs Offices (CAOs) to provide government with the most effective and efficient policy options to move the country to the next level.
Mustapha said: “It is the duty of the Cabinet Affairs Offices to effectively manage the policymaking processes to enable governments at the national and subnational level take informed decisions required to address the numerous development challenges that the country has had to contend with over the years.”
He stated that the CAOs are conventionally responsible for ensuring coordination in policy development as well as tracking the implementation of the policies of government at all levels.
“It therefore behoves on us as the policy coordinating centres of Government to provide our principals with the most effective and efficient policy options, to move our country forward.
“For the Federal and the State Governments to turn things around, the Cabinet Affairs Offices must support the government’s core business of formulating, implementing, tracking and accounting for policies and programmes,” he added.